Respiratory problems are relatively common in society today. For example, some estimate that nearly 5% of the population of the United States suffer from asthma. Effective treatment of respiratory conditions can be complicated, sometimes requiring continuous monitoring and recording of respiratory function and symptoms in conjunction with controlled application of medication to bring a condition under control. In such cases, a physician will generally review the recorded data for a particular patient to determine how the patient is reacting to a prescribed treatment plan and make modifications to the treatment plan based thereon. Over time, a treatment regimen is developed that stabilizes the patient's condition to allow normal daily functioning without fear of life threatening attacks or the like.
As can be appreciated, the procedures for monitoring and recording respiratory function and the use of medicines can be complicated and time consuming. Much of the responsibility for maintaining accurate records of respiratory function and administration of medication falls upon the patient, who must then report recorded information to the physician. In many cases, this information gathering task proves to be overly burdensome for a patient untrained in such matters, resulting in incomplete, inconsistent, and/or inaccurate data collection. This data is then made available to the attending physician, who uses it to determine whether adjustments need to be made in the patient's treatment regimen. Because the information being used by the physician is sketchy at best, the physician's ability to make the correct treatment decisions is compromised and an optimal treatment regimen takes longer to develop.
Therefore, a need exists for a method and apparatus for accurately collecting information about a patient's respiratory condition from the patient. The method and apparatus will preferably be simple and straightforward to use, highly reliable, and relatively automatic.